If you cast you mind back, you may remember the closing sentence of our last expedition update from Belgrade, Serbia. It read “If all goes to plan, the next update we post will hopefully be from the Black Sea!” By that stage of our expedition I really should have known better than to tempt fate; it took my passing comment as an invitation to make life as hard as possible for us for almost the entire remainder of our expedition.

Our last few weeks have been somewhat of a whirlwind as we’ve passed through five countries and four capital cities in twelve days of non-stop paddling on the Danube. The day after leaving Vienna we reached Slovakia, the ruins of Devin Castle indicating our arrival at the border. Soon after, as we rounded a corner in the river, we saw a city emerging from the river with an impressive white castle perched on the hilltop. It took us a moment to register that this was Bratislava, our third capital city.

During our first ten days on the River Danube, we have very quickly come to realise that this river is a fickle mistress. One minute the water is flowing quickly through beautiful scenery, a gentle tailwind helping us on our way... The next minute, the flow has vanished and we’re battling headwinds and waves comparable to our days on the sea around England, our progress all but halted. After the routine we had established on the Main and Main-Donau Canal, this sudden change and unpredictability has come as somewhat of a shock to us.